John Henn’s
involvement in the Wilts & Berks Canal Amenity Group dates from
1983. The founding enthusiasm of 1977 had weakened to the point
where the central administration of the organisation was
threatened. Neil Rumbol, our founding father, considers the
situation was saved by the emergence of Richard Porter, John
Henn and Peter Scratchard; this account attempts to show
something of the energy and provocative enthusiasm of one of
these three.
John was employed by
British Aerospace at Filton, though as the years passed his
canal workload increased, to the point where many of us assumed
his desk was really a divisional office of the Amenity Group.
One of his earliest
projects was a publication entitled “Boats to Lacock and Beyond”
worked up jointly with Richard Porter during 1983, and this is
believed to be the first time that restoration of the Wilts &
Berks for full navigation was proposed. This was a significant
development that changed the public perception of the canal
project.
Another early initiative
was an attempt to identify possible routes between the Kennet &
Avon canal and Lacock. The technical aspects of this work were
completed by Noel Griffiths and this work was drawn on by the
Scott Wilson feasibility study of 1997 and the spate of studies
between 2002 and 2008. A college project actually surveyed what
is now the preferred route along the river Avon though the heart
of Melksham.
The Calne section was
opened in 1989 and John, working with Tim Jones, had been
instrumental in getting regular work parties established about
three years earlier. Also at this time John showed Chris Hutt
from Sustrans the potential for a cycleway between Pewsham Locks
and Reybridge, another early initiative that finally bore fruit
about fifteen years later.
John also asked Peter
Boyce to write a report on Dauntsey Lock, which set in train a
sequence of events leading ultimately to the dramatic
restoration of the Dauntsey canal settlement. He also worked
with the Lockside Design Partnership and the Calne Project;
another area where the earliest steps can be linked to recent
physical improvements beside the canal with a benefit to the
entire community.
By the late eighties the
Canal Amenity Group had long had a strong presence in and around
Swindon but was much less well known further west. However it
was found that Foxham enthusiasts wouldn’t travel to Calne and
Chippenham people would not go to Melksham. So Clem Barnett and
John Henn established local branches and attended all the early
meetings till a nucleus had demonstrated their ability to hold
the branch together.
John had long believed
that a canal society must have a trip boat to generate publicity
and to raise funds, though the lack of a major length of
restored canal connected to one of our seven towns, ruled out a
conventional steel narrowboat. An ingenious solution was a
trailable fibreglass boat capable of carrying twelve passengers
marketed under the name of the Hypozomatic Boat. John was able
to do a deal with the manufacturers for the pre-production
prototype. About a dozen of us drove to Bedford on a grey day
in November 1990, and tested the boat on the River Ouse.
Subsequently named Damsel Fly, she has flown the flag ever since
and is still in use after major renovation around 2004.
In October 1991 John
left British Aerospace and assumed the role of unpaid, full time
project officer for the group and held this position for
eighteen months till Paul Pennycook was appointed in 1993. This
was a period of strengthening contact with the local authorities
that may be described as laying the foundations of the Canal
Partnership.
Compelled by
circumstances to seek gainful employment, John still found time
to work with Arthur Dungate to produce the now historic video,
‘A Dream Coming True’. John also continued to work for the
project through the Bath & Bristol branch, his bubbling
enthusiasm now concentrated on areas of publicity and promotion.
There are many of us in
the West End branches who remember John with affection, also his
great friend Clem Barnett, and are grateful for their
achievements. Particularly their role in extending the canal
project to the towns west of Wootton Bassett where few people
even knew of the existence of the canal, much less the potential
benefits that its restoration would bring.
John and Clem and others
of their generation of enthusiasts, worked in a less encouraging
climate than today. Though they could not demonstrate how or
when the canal would be restored, they were sustained by the
belief that the project would bring such a range of benefits to
so many people, that it could not fail to be restored.
Personally I value their friendship very highly and am grateful
for the time I have spent in their company.
Colin Fletcher
West End
Director
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